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Subscribe to RSSCreativity may have a dark side.
The very same people who have the intellectual spark to think outside the box when solving complicated problems may also be the ones who can more easily indulge in cheating and general dishonesty, a new study suggests.
“Creative people are more able to come up with reasons to justify unethical behavior — they are more morally flexible,” said the study’s lead author Francesca Gino, an associate professor of business administration at the Harvard Business School. “Concluding that the rule does not make sense could be one of the potential justifications.”
To test the theory that people who score well in creativity may be more likely to cheat, Gino rounded up several groups of college students.
She and her co-author, Dan Ariely of Duke University -- who published their findings in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology -- started out by testing study volunteers’ intelligence and creativity. Then the researchers ran a series of experiments that used money to tempt people into dishonesty.
In one experiment, the researchers gave volunteers a multiple-choice quiz that tested general knowledge. For every correct answer, the volunteers would make money.
The volunteers were later asked to copy their answers onto a special form. One of the researchers told them that the correct answers had been lightly marked on these new forms -- by mistake -- and that they should ignore the marks, be honest, and fill out the forms as they had on their original quizzes. The volunteers were then told to discard their original quizzes, which didn’t have their names on them, in a special container.
In reality, the researchers had put special, identifying marks on the original quizzes. So they were able to compare the two versions to see if there had been any cheating. Sure enough, the researchers found that the most creative students were also the most dishonest. And that pattern held up in each of four other experiments.
While the study probably isn’t the last word on the subject, it may be a “cautionary tale,” said Art Caplan, director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania and an msnbc.com contributor. “You’ve got to be careful in encouraging creativity since it probably comes with a potential for self-rationalization. Creative people will think of new ways to bend the rules to do what they want to do.”
Still, Caplan said, the researchers did load the dice in favor of their theory by choosing students for study volunteers.
“If I were trying to hunt up someone who is ethically the most willing to be pushing the limits, it would be college students,” Caplan explained. “They’re still exploring or testing ethics and morality."
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I guess Professor Gino is an out of the box thinker...she cheated by marking the sheets surreptitiously. It takes a cheater to....
Haha. Good point, TioGio.
I think someone in Academia really has it in for "creative types." I mean, this is the second study I've seen in recent months examining their "dark side." The other one a few months back concluded that "creative types" were far more prone to narcissism. So good luck on those art projects, all you lying, cheating ego-maniacs ;)
This study didn't discern between harmful lies and "little white lies," which are told to avoid hurting someone's feelings or to preserve privacy.
I would agree that creative people are probably more successful at telling little white lies because they can think fast in alternative, believable directions. But at telling harmful lies, that takes deception and malice - not necessarily creative qualities.
There is a difference between a creative person and a sociopath. You can make a study point to anything you want.
Just wait for next month's study that shows creative people are more trust-worthy.
Well I definitely think this was a "creative" study.
Of what use is this load of bull? It's going to make people run around pointing fingers at each other saying, "I don't trust you anymore. You're too creative."
I think of myself as a creative person but I'm a terrible liar. I have zero poker face so I'm awful at games like poker. Everyone knows what's in my hand. I couldn't even fib as a child because everyone knew as soon as I said something that I knew wasn't 100% true. Most people don't tell me secrets but not because I gossip. They know if someone asked me I couldn't lie my way out of it. Even if I keep my mouth shut people questioning me just say, "Oh that tells me all I need to know."
I learned very early not to lie and avoid people that love telling secrets.
Yes, i agree with you....upbringing and thinking before following a crowd helps us creative type from being liars. I turn red on my neck like a Turkey if I trying and hide the truth...Open book, easy going, is my motto...People are always going to be looking for a reason why we are all so different, or why don't we fit in, or why is he/she so beautiful, or what do we have to do to hurt someone...we all have things we're not proud of , but insteading of dwelling on it, learn from it and move on..some of have learned:o)
I so agree with you. I'm a "creative type" but my parents and Catholic-school upbringing had strong "emphasis" on not lying! If I try to fib, I blush, I stammer, and do everything but say "I'm about to tell you something but it's a terrible lie so don't believe me." Think nurture has the last word over nature in this case.
And testing college students seems a great way to skew the results! If they don't want to be eating ramen noodles for the rest of the week, they'll do what they can to earn extra money. Not a subject group to test for accurate results.
But what really got me (other than the fact of what practical use will the study results eventually be) was Caplan's comment: "You've got to be careful with encouraging creativity since it probably comes with a potential for self-rationalization." Who is this guy? Not connected with study, so why his ridiculous comment? Creativity is hard-wired at birth -- you're born a creative, analytical, or whatever type you are. So what he's saying is if my child is born a creative type and could become the next daVinci or Michelangelo (not likely, but. . .), I've got to be careful about nurturing their creativity because of the self-rationalizing danger. Yet even the most analytical types can come up with very creative ideas for fibbing about something; rationalization seems to be a human trait. Maybe he shouldn't be seeing this as an either-or situation. but instead advocate that creative children receive strong lessons in morality and ethics while their creative traits are nurtured and encouraged. It's going to take some creativity to deal with the multiple, inter-laced issues our world faces.
Every married man is screwing someone else other than his wife or partner! Wake up. Your guy does have another side to him!
Come on, Flex-538784! That sounds like a creative justification for adultery: "Everybody's doing it."
There are plenty of decent men and husbands who haven't. Most of us have been tempted, sure. But some of us are unable to self-deceive sufficiently to take our behavior to the next lower level. Despite the appearance of momentary advantages, they are fleeting indeed--we know damage will be done, and it will be irreversible.
The article was good for some chuckles. Another abstract "study" over-hyped by the press.
Just because somebody is "creative" doesn't mean they will be a liar or deceptive. Sheesh.
Uh, and I'm pretty sure there we will never see an end to studies that try to identify exactly what creativity is and *why* it is.
How many college students took part in this study? A dozen? Fifty? This isn't a scientific study of anything other than the pressures of testing on college students, even when it won't affect their grade.
I'm super creative. I write books, I paint, write poetry, draw, etc. And I also have a strict policy against lying to people. I do my best not to even let the truth get stretched. Creativity does not make one immoral.
I'm sick of these tiny studies being marched out on MSNBC and cited as absolute fact.
I just found the original article, and there are too many things wrong with their methods to validate any of their "conclusions".
In several of the tests the COLLEGE students were offered MORE MONEY based on how well they did. I think most kids with half a brain and a bit of ability would do their best to earn some money just to eat something that isn't ramen noodles. Good grief.
This isn't science. This is "Let's make wild hypotheses and test them in a way that guarantees we'll get the conclusions we want."
Everyone has creativity, that is why they are inventions in the world, and different building designs and even man went to the moon, and medicine has reach to the ultimate to save lives it all started with an idea
and when a design went wrong it doesn't mean it was deceptive it just went wrong and we try again to improve the idea or the invention
Everyone or most should pass this creativity quiz, to bad the first quiz had answers lightly marked on them
Well duhhh.... I guess these researchers are the non-creative types to have to go thru the research to figure it out.
Sounds like it was a good study, especially after reading some of the comments. The comments went along with what the study said people who are highly creative would say....lol
I don't think Bernie Madoff seemed very creative. Just bad.
So who comes next? people who wear glasses can't be trusted because they fake "looking smart" or teachers to have to teach skewed corriculum to keep their jobs, will they be looked upon as dishonest?
the pol pot'ing of america.
I have known several very creative people in my time. I was raised by one and my grandmother was an artist and a writer yet they both suffered from bipolar disorder both could get around the truth very well. My oldest sister is super creative yet she could not lie to save her life. I think people are people and some lie and some don't. In the world in which we now live most people creative or not lie in one way or another. But it pays to be honest in all your dealings. this is how all people should live. Especially in a country that claims to be Christian.
I've found that people who are supposedly less morally flexible lie and cheat more, because they tend to be more corralled by a bunch of "shoulds". Since they cannot attain perfection, but feel that they should, they often operate on the stealth mode.
Creatives are rule breakers. Being 'truthful' is a rule. Surprise!!!!!!!
Oh and yes, we are narcissistic. Mainly because we ARE superior.
The study ignores that fact the liars are creative and have to be. What they produce tends to be narcissistic and self serving and not necessarily of value to the general good. Genuinely creative people, I have found, are very honest and produce things that of real value.
Francesca Gino is a business admin type?? So, who is that to listen to about this question? This article seems like a waste of space to me. Personally, I think Scientists are prone to making up answers to questions they have no answers for, and Social Psychology types have no life so they study others... And business admin types...well...damn that must be boreing...I guess they tend to try to make themselves somehow more important than they actually are..."So there"!
This is just stating the obvious. It takes creativity to make a successful lie.
I don't know how many people here have watched Doctor Who, but rule number one is that the Doctor Lies.